French President Emmanuel Macron will hold an emergency meeting of senior ministers on Sunday following the worst unrest Paris has seen in decades on Saturday.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told France's Europe 1 radio that a state of emergency may be imposed to prevent "serious outbursts of violence" after thousands of masked "Yellow Vest" protesters fought with police, and set fires to cars, houses and banks in the worst disturbances France's capital has seen since 1968, when Macron's wife was fifteen - the same age the French president was when they met.

Griveaux had indicated the Macron administration was considering imposing a state of emergency. The president was open to dialogue, he said, but would not reverse policy reforms.